Danilo Plessow b2b Hugo LX @ La Bellevilloise - 19/01/24

DJing in clubs since the age of 16, Darren has spent the last 7 years playing at various nightspots across the south coast, London and Ibiza. His take on House Music ranges from deep groovers to bumping and jacking movers, with a subtle, but ever present influence from Chicago providing the ground roots of a unique blend. 

Darren's love for electronic music started at an early age, and after first putting needle to wax at the age of 8 years old, it was all fantasy and dreams until he turned 14 - when he was given his first pair of turntables. 

"I'd wanted to be a DJ for years before I actually started. I was constantly listening to mixtapes that I would steal from my cousin, the music and the mixing was all new to me and I found it fascinating! When I was about 10, my dad gave me an old Hi Fi with a turntable and my mum dug out her old Disco collection for me to listen to… I'd break the needle on the deck every month or so, but it got me by and I was hooked!"

After just a year of DJing in his bedroom, Darren began gaining valuable experience playing to crowds whilst working with a mobile DJ and through those connections gained a work experience placement at Portsmouth Sound and Light, selling and hiring DJ equipment. Still at school, with his position in the store having been permanent for over a year, Darren was headhunted by a local record shop owner. 

Whilst working at Hands on Records, Darren's musical knowledge flourished, it also served as the meeting ground between himself and the king pins of Portsmouth's underground scene. With his fresh faced enthusiasm and a clear passion for House music he was soon part of the furniture amongst Portsmouth's top DJs and promoters.

"I loved working in the record shop, the place was just a converted garage that was absolutely packed with vinyl and it had a studio upstairs. Dave Robertson (Reset Robot) was also working in the shop, but with early signs of his career taking off, I was brought in as his replacement. I'd just turned 16 when I first started, so if there wasn't much work to do, i'd just listen through boxes of records, looking to find artists and labels that I liked, most of which I'd never even heard of! It seriously helped me discover a lot about the music I was into and it played a big part in defining the music I play today."

After two years, with a huge string of local gigs under his belt, studying over and a residency with Portsmouth's most respected underground House outfit 'iNDiGO,' Darren left Hands on Records to pursue full time employment as the slow but steady decline in record sales started to take its toll on the shop. 

This however has done very little to slow him down in the years since; Now a resident for Eivissa Soul (London) as well as iNDiGO (Portsmouth), Darren has gone on to appear at venues such as Zoo Project (Ibiza), Shardanas (Ibiza), Cargo (Shoreditch), The Book Club (Shoreditch), Junk (Southampton), Mud Club (Bognor Regis), Drift Bar (Portsmouth) and Om Bar (Brighton) appearing in line ups alongside the likes of DJ Sneak, Terry Francis, Derrick Carter, Paul Woolford, Raymundo Rodriguez, Dzeta n Basile and many more. 

With recent efforts pushing Darren into the studio, dates confirmed in Ibiza and across the UK, 2012 is set to be a big year for the 23 year old self proclaimed House purist. 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DarrenDDJ
Resident Advisor: http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/darrend
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DjDarren_D

Tikkun olam (Hebrew: תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם) is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world.

Resident @razepalanga